Gopeng : Water Abseiling & White Water Rafting for Beginners

As the days approach nearer to Standard Chartered Marathon Run, I am lazy to run. My distances fluctuate. I was told by a jogger that it is normal. But then, it demotivates me. Argh! I am not sure if I can cover 21km. Yes, that is what I am registering myself for. I have done 10km for 2 years in a row. It is time to increase my distance and challenge myself further. 

15062013 - Today, I participated in a new activity - water abseiling and white water rafting in Gopeng. I always hear about it, and I never got around to trying it because for starters, the timing is always so bad for me to participate. I am lucky to be invited to join this activity. The guide from Gunung Chabang asked if I would like to join, and I said YES YES YES! Yay, dream come true! So, losing my toenails in Gunung Chabang is not so bad. If you are interested to join this activity, this is his contact number - Jai : +60195267206 / pjon_adv@yahoo.com / http://www.7sa.blogspot.com. He organises lots of activities. I hope I will have the opportunity to join more. 

I drove to Gopeng from Selangor, a 2-hour drive. At Gopeng exit, it was just a 15-minute drive to the destination. The location is very near to the highway exit. Entering into the area, I saw lots of resorts and chalets available. Jai informed me that this area is famous for white water rafting, caving, tubing, trekking and water abseiling. It is a good spot for teambuilding, which he has organised many. 

See this photo below. I have heard of 'Rumah Rehat Adeline'. I googled it and the price is wow.. There are lots of activities offered though. If you want a cheap chalet, you can get one for RM40 per room. I am not sure how many people can the room fit. 

Finally, we reached the spot of the water abseiling. That is the entrance - in the second photo. It was just a short walk, like 2 minutes. Or maybe lesser than that.

This is the only spot for the water abseiling - Geruntum Waterfalls. So, if there are many groups with different  agents, one can only abseil once. But we were very lucky to be the only group when we arrived. So, we abseiled twice! Yay! Upon finishing our abseiling, more groups started to join.

Jai is giving the briefing on how to do abseiling. From wearing the safety harness to helmet to how to abseil.

  

To go to the top of the waterfall, one has to walk up a small path. 

I am all ready for my turn. At the top, there were 2 guys who fix the ropes to my safety harness. They are using 2 lines for safety purposes. So, if I fall, I will still be hanging on. I did fall, though. Haha! It was my first attempt. My feet slipped and the rope held me. It was an exhilarating feeling to climb down the waterfalls. During my second attempt, I managed to abseil the right way. Jai was at the bottom to take off the second line for us, and it was pulled back up.

We were provided lunch. After lunch, it was time for white water rafting in Sungai Kampar! I am curious of the word 'white water', and I googled. White water = formed in a rapid (another google section - a section of a river which has a relatively steep gradient causing an increase in turbulence and water velocity), when a river's gradient increases enough to disturb its flow and create turbulence, i.e. form a bubbly, and unstable current; and you can see the frothy water appears white. So much googling. Shows how ignorant I am in white water rafting. There are many levels involved and according to my friend, this is between Level 2 and 3.

The different grades of white water rafting which I found in Wikipedia:
Grade 1: Very small rough areas, might require slight maneuvering. (Skill level: very basic)
Grade 2: Some rough water, maybe some rocks, might require some maneuvering. (Skill level: basic paddling skill)
Grade 3: Whitewater, small waves, maybe a small drop, but no considerable danger. May require significant maneuvering. (Skill level: experienced paddling skills)
Grade 4: Whitewater, medium waves, maybe rocks, maybe a considerable drop, sharp maneuvers may be needed. (Skill level: whitewater experience)
Grade 5: Whitewater, large waves, large volume, possibility of large rocks and hazards, possibility of a large drop, requires precise maneuvering. (Skill level: advanced whitewater experience)
Grade 6: Class 6 rapids are considered to be so dangerous that they are effectively unnavigable on a reliably safe basis. Rafters can expect to encounter substantial whitewater, huge waves, huge rocks and hazards, and/or substantial drops that will impart severe impacts beyond the structural capacities and impact ratings of almost all rafting equipment.

Enough about the lessons of white water rafting. Well, there are no photos taken for my activity. Even putting the camera in a dry bag seems dangerous because we hit rocks and it may hurt my camera. So, I just took photos of other groups, where the activity has ended. 

Our rafting activity was for a distance of 9km. For ours, we tried body rafting too where we float on the river, and bumped some rocks. My butt hurts from this activity, because initially I slipped on a rock, and when we did body rafting, the rocks in the river increased the swells. I can't sit and squat, and I have to sleep sideways. We also did raft capsizing. It was not dangerous. We capsized the raft in calm waters. The guide asked if we would like to capsize in the rapids. I hesitated.. but I was okay with the calm waters. Yes, I am a sissy. In my defence, it is because I am a first timer!

What is inside a raft. A raft of average quality costs RM10,000, while of good quality costs about RM15,000. There is a rope around the raft, for the participants to hold on to while going over rapids or drops. You won't want to fall off.

I saw some of the guides carrying the raft, and I asked them if it was heavy. They said no. I experienced it when we have to carry ours back. It is HEAVY! Okay, maybe because I have puny arms.

We finished rafting by 4pm. I don't remember what time we started though. It could be 1pm. After rafting, it was a tiring drive back to Selangor. And that is the end of my Saturday. I had so much fun!